Veterans Ravi Dias Jayasinha (left) and Omar Nawaz at the FITUR in Madrid

By Harischandra Gunaratna

Veteran Sri Lankan tour opetator and president and CEO, Gateway in Milan ,Italy, Ravi Dias Jayasinha expressed confidence that Sri Lanka’s tourism industry would do well with the introduction of professionals, with a wealth of experience, as done by the new government.

“The key is awareness and we need to market our product to the world after identifying the needs of the prospective visitors, he said.

Jayasinha, a pioneer in Sri Lankas’ tourism industry said that Tourism Minister Naveen Dissanayake had taken a step in the right direction in filling key posts in Sri Lanka Tourism with those with a proven track record and experience and added that Paddy Vithane, the new chairman, is a tourism professional with many years under his belt in the hospitality industry and the Managing Director of Sri Lanka Tourism Promotions Bureau, Rohantha Athukorale, a young marketing professional, who should be able to take our tourism product to the world with ease.

“Sri Lankan tourism professionals living overseas would rally round to support efforts by the new team to promote Sri Lanka as a top destination to the world, the veteran assured.

Jayasinha recently had discussions with Project Research Coordinator for the Regional Programme for Asia and the Pacific of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Omar Nawaz, at the FITUR, the premier travel fair in Madrid, Spain.

Reminiscing the old times, Omar who was in-charge of the Sri Lanka ( then  Ceylon) Tourist Board’s office in Paris, for over three decades, regretted the absence of Sri Lanka at FITUR. For many years, dating from the 1970s, Sri Lanka was a regular exhibitor at the fair which commenced with the initiatives of  Sam Samaradivakara, the charismatic Director of the  Tourist Board’s European office in Frankfurt.

The continuous presence of Sri Lanka at FITUR since the early seventies  had been terminated about three years ago. Omar recounted an interesting anecdote of one of his first experiences at FITUR. The Sri Lanka stand was staffed by Omar and  Shelton de Alwis, who was Samaradivakara’s assistant in the Frankfurt office. The  10 sq mt little stand  had been decorated with traditional Sri Lankan Batik hangings. After the official inauguration the King and Queen (H.H.Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia) had  paid a courtesy call on the various exhibitors and  visiting the Sri Lanka stand, the Queen was mesmerised by the the Batiks produced by Sri Lankan artistes; she remarked about its beauty. Another tourism veteran Shelton de Alwis had the presence of mind to present some Batiks on display to the queen. It had been splashed in the media in Spain with Sri Lanka receiving wide coverage at a minimal price. Omar still regrets a call of nature making him momentarily absent from the stand at that critical moment…..

Working at the UNWTO Omar paid tribute to the other Sri Lankans who had worked in the organization in the past,  such as Mano Handy and H.M.S. Samaranayake  who are in retirement in Sri Lanka and said it was vital that the government makes use of their experience and expertise in rebuilding tourism in the country.

Source: http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=118915